Alexandrite- June Birthstone                    Paradise Jewelry Home Page

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Alexandrite, one of the rarest gems on the planet, is the birthstone for June. It is the color change form of the mineral chrysoberyl.

Discovered in 1830 on the Tsar Alexander's birthday, it was named for him.  It was considered lucky (in Russia) because it had the Imperial Russian colors of red and green.

Alexandrite changes color depending on what color light it is under.  We see white light, but light is actually different colors.  Under electric light, Alexandrite is one color, and under fluorescent light or sunlight, it is another color.  Alexandrite may show green/red, blue/red, green/blue color changes, or variations.

Alexandrite is valued by a number of factors.  Is the color change strong, or slight?  Is each color strong, or is one strong and one light?  Is each color beautiful, or is just one an attractive shade?  Or is neither?  Are there many inclusions?  Alexandrite is a very rare gemstone.  Beautiful Alexandrite, with a strong color change, beautiful colors on both sides of the change, and with good clarity, is extremely rare.  I once saw a 10 carat Alexandrite (very unusual size!) that was a quarter of a million dollars!

In the mid to late 1800's, synthetic sapphires began to be created, and synthetic color change sapphires have been used to simulate Alexandrite since that time.  These are often large, beautiful gems (frequently mistaken for Amethysts because the blue/red color mix looks purple in mixed lighting situations) sometimes sold as real Alexandrites, especially in Egypt and Mexico.  People often tell me that a piece that they have inherited "must be real.  It's very old, and besides, Grandma never would have worn anything that wasn't real".    I have to explain that age isn't a deciding factor, since the synthetic sapphires were being created even before Grandma was born.  Additionally they may want to keep in mind that regardless of Grandma's fine taste, she must have received gifts from people, and she was also a little girl once - her jewelry might be anything.  To further complicate matters, during the early part of the last century (early 1800's) synthetics, and composite gems (doublets and triplets) were all the rage and found their way into a LOT of fine antique jewelry.  At that time there was a fascination with science, and the relatively new, true synthetic gems were considered very special.  (Note that "synthetic" gems are real gems, not fake.  They are not "natural", they are man-made, but real in every way.)  In those days, synthetics were the pinnacle of human achievement.  In all of human history we had never been able to create actual gemstones, just imitations.)

At Paradise Jewelry, we always have a few real Alexandrites in stock!

These pictures don't quite do the color change justice, but they give you an idea.  These are VERY lovely Alexandrites!

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